"Tingle, tingle, tremble toes, she's a good fisherman, catches hens, puts 'em inna pens... wire blier, limber lock, three geese inna flock ... one flew east, one flew west, one flew over the cuckoo's nest ... O-U-T spells out ... goose swoops down and plucks you out" (Kesey 243).
Book Cover ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest")
Summary Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, is about men living in a small mental hospital in Oregon, or the "combine" as Chief Bromden, the man telling the story, refers to it as. In the beginning, the hospital is under complete control of the Big Nurse, she is the main worker in the ward. Everything she says is rule, even her boss is afraid of her. She has control over what the patients do and think. Then McMurphy, the hero of the book, enters the ward. McMurphy notices the power and control the nurse has over the patients and he immediately tries to stop it. He encourages gambling, drinking and sex in the ward, and rallies the other patients by defying the rule of the Big Nurse. He turns the mental hospital upside down and brings life back into the patients. He brings laughter to the men who haven't so much as smiled since they came to the hospital. McMurphy pulls every man up and out of the fog that is the nurse's power. "It's like... that big red hand of McMurphy's is reaching up out of the fog and dropping down and dragging the men up by their hands, dragging them blinking into the open. First one, then another, then the next" (Kesey 117). McMurphy and the Big Nurse continue the battle for power throughout the book. Even after she turns McMurphy into a mindless vegetable, she still cannot control the patients like she used to. After she loses control many of the patients are able to go on and live normal lives. Chief Bromden eventually escapes, too, after putting the brain dead McMurphy out of his misery. By doing this he destroys the evidence of the nurse's attempt at winning for good.
The Patients
McMurphy and Chief Bromden
The Big Nurse
About the Author Ken Kesey was born in 1935 in Colorado and grew up in Oregon. After graduating from the University of Oregon, he received a Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University, where he studied fiction. Kesey's first two novels, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes a Great Nation, brought him great fame ("Ken Kesey").
Author, Ken Kesey ("Archive")
Why Outstanding? What made this book so great and outstanding was the use of metaphors and symbolism through out it. Kesey did a great job creatively describing the feelings of Chief Bromden. "Nobody can help. And the more I think about how nothing can be helped, the faster the fog rolls in. And I'm glad when it gets thick enough you're lost in it and can let go, and be safe again" (Kesey 97). He describes everything with great detail and it is very easy to imagine what everything looks like. Kesey also put exciting and interesting personalities into each character which makes the book fun to read. I would recommend this book because it is full of surprises. After reading this book it feels like you know each character personally, because Kesey portrays them so well. The book really draws readers into it. The book also brings out many emotions. There are times that are funny and there are times that are sad. There are also shocking twists throught out. I think everyone who reads this book would enjoy it because it has a little of everything in it.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
"Tingle, tingle, tremble toes, she's a good fisherman, catches hens, puts 'em inna pens... wire blier, limber lock, three geese inna flock ... one flew east, one flew west, one flew over the cuckoo's nest ... O-U-T spells out ... goose swoops down and plucks you out" (Kesey 243).
Summary
Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, is about men living in a small mental hospital in Oregon, or the "combine" as Chief Bromden, the man telling the story, refers to it as. In the beginning, the hospital is under complete control of the Big Nurse, she is the main worker in the ward. Everything she says is rule, even her boss is afraid of her. She has control over what the patients do and think. Then McMurphy, the hero of the book, enters the ward. McMurphy notices the power and control the nurse has over the patients and he immediately tries to stop it. He encourages gambling, drinking and sex in the ward, and rallies the other patients by defying the rule of the Big Nurse. He turns the mental hospital upside down and brings life back into the patients. He brings laughter to the men who haven't so much as smiled since they came to the hospital. McMurphy pulls every man up and out of the fog that is the nurse's power. "It's like... that big red hand of McMurphy's is reaching up out of the fog and dropping down and dragging the men up by their hands, dragging them blinking into the open. First one, then another, then the next" (Kesey 117). McMurphy and the Big Nurse continue the battle for power throughout the book. Even after she turns McMurphy into a mindless vegetable, she still cannot control the patients like she used to. After she loses control many of the patients are able to go on and live normal lives. Chief Bromden eventually escapes, too, after putting the brain dead McMurphy out of his misery. By doing this he destroys the evidence of the nurse's attempt at winning for good.
About the Author
Ken Kesey was born in 1935 in Colorado and grew up in Oregon. After graduating from the University of Oregon, he received a Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University, where he studied fiction. Kesey's first two novels, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes a Great Nation, brought him great fame ("Ken Kesey").
Why Outstanding?
What made this book so great and outstanding was the use of metaphors and symbolism through out it. Kesey did a great job creatively describing the feelings of Chief Bromden. "Nobody can help. And the more I think about how nothing can be helped, the faster the fog rolls in. And I'm glad when it gets thick enough you're lost in it and can let go, and be safe again" (Kesey 97). He describes everything with great detail and it is very easy to imagine what everything looks like. Kesey also put exciting and interesting personalities into each character which makes the book fun to read. I would recommend this book because it is full of surprises. After reading this book it feels like you know each character personally, because Kesey portrays them so well. The book really draws readers into it. The book also brings out many emotions. There are times that are funny and there are times that are sad. There are also shocking twists throught out. I think everyone who reads this book would enjoy it because it has a little of everything in it.
Works Cited
"Archive for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Half Moon Bay Memories. March 27, 2008.
http://www.halfmoonbaymemories.com/category/one-flew-over-the-cukoos-nest/</span>
"Ken Kesey." Book and Writers. March 27,2008.
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kkesey.htm</span>
Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Penguin Books, 1962.
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey." Ebook Networking. March 27,2008.
[[http://www.ebooknetworking.com/%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span|http://www.ebooknetworking.com/</span]]>